The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness

Neurologist O’Sullivan (It’s All in Your Head) takes readers on a gripping international journey documenting outbreaks of psychosomatic illnesses (once called mass hysteria, now called functional neurological disorder or FND). In Sweden, young asylum seekers with resignation syndrome spend their days in a comatose state. In the mountains of Colombia, schoolgirls experience fainting spells and convulsions. “Every medical problem is a combination of the biological, the psychological and the social,” O’Sullivan explains. She explores a number of case studies, aiming to uncover how external factors meet with brain function to create disabling symptoms. Psychosomatic illnesses often carry stigma, and patients are sometimes accused of faking their symptoms; as a result, FND sufferers and their families generally resist such the diagnosis. O’Sullivan argues that it is precisely because FND is more common in women and young girls that it is stigmatized or dismissed, although the symptoms are real and debilitating. Her book proposes that physicians should look beyond basic diagnoses, to the environmental factors and social context that may contribute to patients’ illnesses.